Editing Peter Lorre (section)

=== In Europe (1922–1934) ===
[[File:Mostro1.jpg|upright|thumb|{{center|Lorre in ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' (1931)}}]]
[[File:Mostro2.jpg|upright|thumb|{{center|Lorre (left) in ''M'' (1931)}}]]

Lorre began acting on stage in Vienna aged 17, where he worked with Viennese [[Art Nouveau]] artist and [[puppeteer]] [[:de:Richard Teschner|Richard Teschner]]. He then moved to [[Breslau]] and later to [[Zürich]]. In the late 1920s, the actor<ref>[http://www.peterlorrebook.com/faq01.html#tall "Per Lorre FAQ"], Stephen D. Youngkin's Peter Lorre website</ref> moved to Berlin, where he worked with [[Bertolt Brecht]], including a role in Brecht's ''[[Man Equals Man]]'' and as Dr. Nakamura in the musical ''[[Happy End (musical)|Happy End]]''.

The actor became much better known after director [[Fritz Lang]] cast him as [[pedicide|child-killer]] Hans Beckert in ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' (1931), a film reputedly inspired by the [[Peter Kürten]] case.<ref name="Packer88">Sharon Packer [https://books.google.com/books?id=CX4goUP_yh0C&pg=PA88 ''Movies and the Modern Psyche''], Westport, CN: Praeger, 2007, p. 88</ref> Lang said that he had Lorre in mind for the part and did not give him a screen test because he was already convinced Lorre was perfect for the part.<ref>Barry Keith Grant (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=xxX-epJIzo0C&pg=PA78 ''Fritz Lang: Interviews''], University Press of Mississippi, 2003, p. 78</ref>  He also stated that the actor gave his best performance in ''M'' and that it was among the most distinguished in film history.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=64}} Sharon Packer observed that Lorre played the "loner, [and] schizotypal murderer" with "raspy voice, bulging eyes, and emotive acting (a holdover from the silent screen) [which] always make him memorable."<ref name="Packer88" />

In 1932, Lorre appeared alongside [[Hans Albers]] in the science fiction film ''[[F.P.1 antwortet nicht]]'' about an artificial island in the mid-[[Atlantic]].

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Lorre took refuge first in Paris and then London, where he was noticed by [[Ivor Montagu]], associate producer for ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1934),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Brent |date=2019-11-19 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) |url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-man-who-knew-too-much-1934 |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Brenton Film |language=en-GB}}</ref> who reminded the film's director, [[Alfred Hitchcock]], about Lorre's performance in ''M''. They considered him to play the [[assassin]], but wanted to use him in a larger role despite his limited command of English,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/104984 |title=The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> which Lorre overcame by learning much of his part phonetically.  In ''[[The Guardian]],'' September 2014, Michael Newton wrote, "Lorre cannot help but steal each scene; he's a physically present actor, often, you feel, surrounded as he is by the pallid English, the only one in the room with a body."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Newton |first1=Michael |title=Peter Lorre: master of the macabre |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/12/peter-lorre-master-macabre-bfi |access-date=20 June 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=12 September 2014}}</ref>

Lorre and his first wife, actress [[Celia Lovsky]], boarded the [[Cunard-White Star Line]]r [[RMS Majestic (1914)|RMS Majestic]] in Southampton on July 18, 1934, to sail for New York a day after shooting had been completed on ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'', having gained visitor's visas to the United States.{{sfn|Youngkin|2005|p=98}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.peterlorrebook.com/faq01.html | title=The Lost One – A Life of Peter Lorre }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://epdf.pub/the-lost-one-a-life-of-peter-lorre.html | title=The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre - PDF Free Download }}</ref>

After his first two American films, Lorre returned to England to feature in Hitchcock's ''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'' (1936).<ref name="French">Philip French [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/31/peter-lorre-by-philip-french-m-huston-bogart-hitchcock-bacall "Peter Lorre: a great screen actor remembered"], ''The Observer'', August 31, 2014.</ref>